Autumn 2023 Newsletter
Hello Everyone As the season draws to a close I would like to thank club members for their support. Many of you have volunteered and Committee Members have also worked tirelessly to deliver an exciting programme of events. The RNLI are going to withdraw two of our local All Weather Lifeboats. Aldeburgh & Walton are to go. However, it’s not all bad news as Clacton will have an All Weather Lifeboat instead of Walton. In my opinion Aldeburgh is a poor decision. I will communicate with the membership further regarding this disturbing news. RNLI Aldeburgh All Weather Lifeboat Orford Sailing Club Autumn 2023 Newsletter
RNLI Walton & Frinton Lifeboat in Titchmarsh Marina We have a challenging maintenance to carry out over the next few months. The roof of the Club House needs repair.
The ‘Richard Roberts’ about to go to work for the first time. Chief Instructor Matt Riley, Wendy Roberts, James Robinson & Jamie Roberts Our new Safety Boat the ‘Richard Roberts’ was delivered and commissioned. A new engine will be installed on ‘Andren’ before next season with the newer of the two Suzukis going on to ‘Oscar’.
Our 2023 RYA Dinghy Instructors Inset top left Suzy Cooper (Senior Instructor), bottom left Madeleine Cooper Inset top right Imogen Crossfield, bottom right Charlie Lewis Back row left to right Miranda Cook, Willa Cole, Ben Sarginson, Raffy Hollis, Daisy Hester, Milly McCann, Matilda Sidel Front row Alex Chin, Matt Riley (Chief Instructor), Sheena Barrow (RYA Principal), James Robinson (President), Jacob Kunert, Tom Chin Sheena Barrow and Matt Riley delivered an exceptional Training Programme and we were delighted to welcome back Suzy Cooper for the second week of training as our Senior Instructor. Hugest congratulations to all our returning Lead Instructors, Instructors, Assistant Instructors and Helpers. I am delighted to say that Suzy Cooper has been appointed as RYA Principal and equally pleased that Sheena Barrow will continue to be Rear Commodore Training.
We had a great Summer Party and Senior and Junior Regatta. The Sea Race took place in forbidding weather. Troy Batley has worked tirelessly with the club racing and our Cruisers have individually or in small groups sailed locally and to the Continent. I was delighted to see the vast number of youngsters in Toppers in the Junior Series. Much thanks must go to Miranda Cook for her inspirational work with the young people. There will be a natural progression from Toppers to Lasers as the children get older so I would urge parents with youngsters to think of Toppers when considering boats for their children. Watch this space and contact Miranda! 2023 Toppers
The Juniors were also winning at Aldeburgh Week. Many thanks to Annabel Nash who has completed her two year stint as Junior Captain. Felix Boyd has been reappointed and Dhillon Nash appointed as joint Junior Captains for 2024. As part of the Centenary Celebrations the Tom Cunliffe Centenary Fitting Out Supper will be held on Friday 29th March. Please may I remind everyone to clear the Dinghy Park by the end of November Saturday 11th November I am hoping for some volunteers to tidy, the Club House & Bridge, the Kit Shed and the Outboard shed. We can then switch off supplies and secure the building for the winter. We also need to put the club boats away. Stay safe James Tomlinson, Commodore
Sailing Reflecting back on the season that was, the poor weather in July and August didn’t really affect sailing. Sure, temperatures were cool and there was precious little sun and quite a lot of rain but that said, the crucial element of wind speed wasn’t too bad and we were able to run all of our usual fixtures albeit, the Sea Race had to be rescheduled twice before we could run it during a spectacular downpour which didn’t stop Chris Gerard winning single-handed in his K2. Overall, we ran some 32 separate sailing fixtures this season, compared to around 22 last year. Ominous weather for the Sea Race. Fiona & Molly Cox outward bound from the river ...
Shakedown Cruise was a select affair with Cornelia and Sea Shanty rafting-up in the Deben for some early sun, whilst other yachts were still antifouling their bottoms on the hard. Racing during April to June was a game of cat and mouse between David Pegg and Tom Nash who dominated the early season. There was informal Feva racing late July, with 24 children and adults entering – supported by Chris Gill and his yacht Cornelia in some quite hairy windy conditions. A very successful Junior Regatta in early August with around 18 competitors entering. The youth racing has been particularly strong this season and the Junior Topper series saw 20 entrants split into Bronze Silver and Gold fleets based on their racing experience. The Summer Cruise was a nerve-wracking game of who dares wins. Three boats; Sanderling, Tequila and Sea Shanty had passage plans to go across the North Sea to Ostend together but the weather and sea state (3 weeks of north easterlies) had other ideas. Winner of the 2023 Sea Race Chris Gerrard
Sanderling and Tequila made directly for Shotley. Sea Shanty sailed some 10 miles of the 85 mile journey before diverting to Shotley, complaining of queasy crew. Sanderling and Tequila with the benefit of time, stayed in the Stour until the weather improved and they were able to cross and start their two week trip around Holland – Sea Shanty (being time poor) settling for a sunny weekend in Essex and the delights the Colne river. Separately, yachts Cornelia were in the Channel Islands & Brittany and Eventually was in Finland. Talisker 1 sailed to Ostend via the Isle of Wight and Cherbourg. The Senior Regatta on the 12th August went ahead despite a F5 wind filling-in, in the afternoon – Simon Boyd gets a mention for keeping afloat whilst all about were capsizing (inc. yours truly) and winning the Harper Cup. Learn The River took place for the first time this season where a couple of our, shall we say, very experienced sailors gave-up some of their hard-earned knowledge of the river Ore to our younger members who will be using this in their racing to gain an edge. A captive audience for a talk on Learn the River by James Robinson and David Foreman
Ladies That Launch in its second season, had many successful outings in all kinds of craft and has become a popular fixture in the calendar and saw at least one lady in her 9th decade, take to the water. Orford Day when AYC OOD takes over our Bridge to run their Regatta round-the-island races, was a splendid visual spectacle for those that watched the Aldeburgh fleet sail by, spinnakers aloft. We also managed to flog them some tea & sandwiches which were much appreciated by them and our club Treasurer - special thanks to Caroline Gill for organising that. Round The Island fun event and Dove Point Picnic were great fun and successful outings albeit rescheduled to days when we could dial-up some sunshine and fair winds. The Commodore and Mike & Judith Shallow wowed us with their lovely old matching speedboats. The Harry Edwards Series pushed us firmly into September and that saw some fierce competition with the Leader Board seemingly changing weekly. David Pegg decided to sail and use all his boats and rigs and lost on points to Mike & Judith Shallow who had to give way to Chris and Caroline Gill, once I had studied the small print on ‘discards’ in the club handbook. As I write, we will be running the 1st of the Frostbite series races this weekend in weather that is threatening temperatures of 23 degrees in October! A big thank you to all of you that volunteered to be OOD/AOD and run the safety boats as helm and crew. None of this happens without you!! Best wishes and see you all at Prize Giving and Laying-up Supper, when I can off-load this hoard of silver that is cluttering up my study. Troy Batley, Sailing Secretary
Training Looking back to our 3 weeks of training courses this summer, the team should be congratulated for issuing over 90 RYA Certificates between both junior and adult students. These busy courses were delivered by fifteen individual OSC RYA Instructors supported by an equal number of Assistant Instructors. It would seem that the Club is back to full strength with these excellent staffing commitments. Several Orford children were given the opportunity following on from Taster sessions to join RYA courses. A highlight was teaching Orest and Otap both boys from Ukraine. Now looking forward to half term later this month we wish our 7 candidates good luck with their RYA Dinghy Instructors course. We are delighted to welcome Abi Clegg back to run this course. Thanks go to all those who helped and supported the Training Programme. We are lucky that volunteers contribute so much to our ability to remain a very approachable, friendly sailing club. Sheena Barrow, RYA Principal Club Boats The club boats performed well on the sailing courses and it’s the time of the year when we need to put them away in the black shed so if any club members would like to help that would be great! The working party will gather on the morning of Saturday 11th November to wash and put the dinghies in to storage. I hope to see you there!! We also plan to sell the grey decked white hull Wayfarer as the Hartley’s worked well for the adult courses. Hugh Kemp, Club Boats Maintenance
Club Centenary 1924 - 2024 Next year will be the sailing club’s centenary. Several members of the club have photographs, that date back to its founding, as well as stories about the fishermen who started the club. However, there was recreational sailing on the river well before this, with an annual Orford Regatta for the village starting in 1876. We therefore would like to celebrate the club’s founding in 1924 as well as replicate some of the events the village used to enjoy in their Regatta. We are therefore planning two events; A 1920s theme Centenary Dinner with dancing to a live band in Orford Town Hall on Saturday 1st June. A two day Centenary Regatta on the week end of the 17th and 18th which will incorporate the annual Senior Regatta. The summer party will be on the evening of Saturday 17th August. Please make a note of these dates and we will give further details in due course. We hope as many of you as possible will participate in these commemorative events. Penny Murley, Committee Maintenance & Safety Boats Since the end of May club activities have really had preference over maintenance issues, but nevertheless we have managed to do quite a lot of things since the last Newsletter, as follows: 1) New UPVC doors and windows to the men’s changing rooms . These doors and windows, which were all measured and specified by Rob Orford and David Robinson, were all installed satisfactorily and are now functioning well. 2) Outside Painting. Steve Linzell, a local painter and decorator, has repainted the inside and outside of the doors and windows on the ground floor of the Clubhouse, and also repainted the outside of the windows and doors on the Bridge. 3) New Signs. Leiston Press Ltd have replaced the club signs on the front of the Clubhouse. These were installed when Mike Bellegarde was in charge of publicity about 15 years ago and badly needed replacing because of the damage caused by continual exposure to Ultra Violet light. They are now all bright and shining new.
Smart new Signs and redecoration 4) RIB maintenance and Petrol Supplies. Both Migs and I have been extremely busy throughout July and August making sure all the RIBS are functioning satisfactorily, and also that they are kept supplied with sufficient E5 Petrol each and every day throughout the height of the season. Jonnie Howard, Rear Commodore Maintenance, Migs Howard, Safety Boat Maintenance
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